City yobs attack disabled girl, 5

The young victim was pushed into the road as she sat helplessly in her wheelchair after her mother was pushed into a hedge in an attempted robbery.

Officers said the callous youths - in their mid teens - walked off laughing as the five-year-old girl, who has cerebral palsy, lay in the road.

Shocked mother Leeann Branton said the attack on her daughter Lucy had left her "speechless".

She added: "These people are low-life scum."

The shocking incident happened at Water Lane, Clifton, at about 6.30pm last night.

A York Police spokesman said the mother was wheeling her daughter towards Burdyke Avenue when a gang of three youths struck.

One tried to grab her handbag, and in the struggle Mrs Branton was shoved into a hedge. As she tried to recover, the ringleader grabbed her daughter's wheelchair before pointing it in the direction of the road - and deliberately shoved it down a slope into the road. The chair overturned, but luckily the horrified mother was able to pick it up from the road before a car struck it.

The girl banged her face on the ground and was badly shocked. But she was not seriously injured in the attack. Mrs Branton hurt her back.

The police spokesman said: "This was a sickening attack and the sooner these people are caught the better."

Officers said the main offender is about 16 years old, white, about 5ft 10in tall, had cropped hair and of thin build. He also had patchy ginger hair on his chin.

He was wearing dark, shiny tracksuit bottoms with a grey stripe down each leg. He was also wearing a navy blue Rockport type jumper.

The second offender was 5ft 8in tall, aged 16, of medium build and had an "effeminate laugh". He wore a baseball cap with writing on the front, a navy blue puffer jacket with words and stripes on.

The third was also 16 and wore stone-washed jeans.

Anyone with information about the gang should phone acting Detective Constable Lee Boyeson on 08456 060247.

Updated: 14:40 Tuesday, February 01, 2005